An Interview with Brian Nelson,
Winner of the WSBA Elite BARR Competition
Nelson discusses his success and his future
BELLINGHAM, WA- Brian Nelson rents a small mother-in-law apartment attached to the garage of a First Rate Mortgage teammate in Bellingham. Upon entering his humble pad, one gets a clear sense of the role cycling plays in Nelson’s life. There’s no sink full of dirty water bottles, no dirty cycling clothing lying around, and no cycling magazines. In the place of magazines, an M-CAT study guides sits open on the table; in place of water bottles, a French press with tea- leaves pressed in the bottom sits in the sink; and instead of bike shorts, a yoga mat lies on the floor. In fact, if you never took a step into the garage Brian shares with his teammate, you might never guess he even owns a bike. But he owns several in fact; and if you’ve seen Brian race this year, it is abundantly evident that he rides at least one of them on a regular basis.
Nelson won Washington State Bicycle Racing’s BARR points competition this year. And because of his success, he gets free race entries next year and will wear the number “1” at all WSBA events. But to hear him tell it, there may not even be a number “1” out at any of the races as he’ll be making plans and preparing for a bright future outside of cycling. BicycleNorthwest sat down with Brian Nelson to discuss his successful season, life and cycling in general, and his plans for the future.
BicycleNorthwest: First of all Brian, thanks for taking the time to talk with us; and congratulations on such a great season.
Brian Nelson: No problem, thank you. And I hope your website takes off.
BNW: Thank you. So let’s get this one out of the way right away: do you plan on becoming a professional cyclist? After seeing you race this season, many in the local peleton would think you have "the gift".
BN: Uhhh, no. I’m sure it would be fun, but there was one race this season where I new I would never want to do that even if I was able:
I was racing in a spring series up in Canada, and about five Symmetrics guys showed up and it was absolutely pouring rain. During the race, Cam Evans accelerated on the main hill on the course, so I went with him thinking he was attacking. But he was only getting out of the way so that he could ask his team director if he could call it quits for the day. I remember thinking right then, and again later that day, how miserable we all were because of the weather. But we all still showed up, and for us non-professionals (the majority of the field) we came out to race and have fun. But for Cam, he had to be there and had to ask to quit because he no longer was there to have fun. He was there because it was his job! I am sure the pros enjoy what they do, but I’ll just make sure I still go out to have fun, and that’s it. Also, my taint can’t handle the trauma from those long hours.
BNW: Perhaps someone can put you in touch with David Zabriske for some maintaintenance tips. But you put up consistent results all season, seeming never to have a bad race. What was your training program like and to what do you attribute your success on the bike?
BN: That is a tough question because it seems like there are so many things that were important in my training that helped me do well. This year was the first year I had an actual training program and it ended up being put together by my teammate Brian Ecker. When I would get my schedule I was shocked that he had me doing 25-29 hour weeks for quite a few weeks in a row. But I did it, and don’t think I did anything else except eat, ride, work and sleep. I also started racing track this winter up at the Burnaby velodrome and that helped me with my speed. Plus, the spring series in Canada and racing against Symmetrics really forced me to go fast when I was tired from long training weeks. And after so much work, when I actually got to rest, I felt great. But I don’t know, probably the biggest thing this year -and every year I have been cycling- has been the help I have gotten from William Pettis and Peter Schmidt at the Institute of New Medicine. Those two doctors have done so much to make sure my mind and body are balanced, and if I ever get some sort of ailment or illness they seem to be able to treat me in such a way that I don’t have to stop riding to recover. They really teach you to listen to your body and take care of it. And after two years of working with them I feel like I am able to know what works for me and what doesn’t work.
BNW: So based on your response to the last question, we gather that you believe it’s important to achieve balance in your life and to not focus too much on cycling. What are some of the ways you try to keep that balance, and how do you think it helps you to be a better cyclist?
BN: I defiantly think that balance in your life is very important and does make you a better cyclist. That is one thing that Dr. Pettis encouraged in me when I started working with him. Before I started cycling I practiced yoga pretty regularly but once I started racing with the WWU Cycling team it became so all-consuming, because for one it was so much fun. But also cycling is a horrible sport for trying to be balanced because it takes so much time. So, once I started working with Dr. Pettis he really encouraged me to go back to practicing yoga and also to remember that I was attending WWU for a reason and to not get so caught up with cycling; to find balance. One thing that I really feel helped me is that sometimes when I just don’t feel like riding my bike, I don’t. When I had homework I would go out and not enjoy my ride because I felt guilty for not studying so I ended up wasting time and not enjoying my ride. So eventually, I just told myself to not ride and forget about it. I think this attitude really made sure that I never got too over-trained also.
BNW: Speaking of homework and Western Washington University, many people might not know that you were a successful collegiate racer as well, and that you took second place to your Western Washington University teammate Nick Clayville (Hagens/Berman) at the 2005 Collegiate National Championship road race in Lawrence, Kansas. And you were able to graduate while being a successful cyclist, and maintain balance in your life, so what are some of your plans for the future off the bike?
BN: Right now I plan on going to medical school, and after that working with some people in Eastern medicine to try and bridge the gap between Eastern and Western medical practices. Other than that, I just plan to enjoy life and hang out with Betty Sue [World’s greatest dog].
BNW: What were some of the goals you set for yourself at the beginning of this season?
BN: Believe it or not, the only goal I really had at the beginning of the season was to try and get my Cat. 1 upgrade because I wasn’t sure if I would be able to do that. Other than that I just wanted to race my bike because I was excited to be out of school and to train without the stress of homework.
BNW: Well, we’re sure you had no problem with that upgrade, but will their be a number "1" in the field at Washington’s elite races next year?
BN: Yeah, well, I plan on racing again next year. But most of my winter is going to be spent studying for the MCATs, so I am not sure how fast I will be or how fat I will be. Wait, I’m not fat I just have big bones [laughs].
BNW: [Laughs] Right, "big boned", that’s what they all say! Well besides winning the BARR, what result are you most proud of this season?
BN: I am really proud of how well my team did overall. I think we were obviously the most dominant team in Washington this year, and I think there are a number of guys on the team that could have easily won the BARR. Personally, I was proud of my performance at Wenatchee because I surprised myself by out-sprinting Russell Stevenson in the crit, and then by climbing with the lead group in the road race. I mean, the next lightest guy to myself was Tyler Farrar and I probably have 20 pounds on him.
BNW: At least! Kenny Williams is known in the Northwest as one of the best bicycle racers around. What was it like being his teammate this year?
BN: It was a lot of fun. Last year I didn’t get to race with him much so this year was really the first year and I learned a lot. He is very patient and he was good about calming me down, especially in crits where I seem to go too early. I think racing with him contributed a lot to my success this year because I don’t think many people really know who I am, so they always watch Kenny; if Kenny goes, they go. So I was able to get off the front a couple of times, and for some reason people didn’t seem to care. And so it ended up working for me because they were too concerned with what Kenny was going to do, but he was fine just sitting in and watching others and myself on the team succeed.
BNW: That’s great! So instead of being a team leader and going for wins, Kenny was more of a mentor to you and other young riders?
BN: Yeah, I would say so. I am sure he always wanted to win, but he has won pretty much every race around multiple times so if he wasn’t going to win he just wanted to make sure that First Rate won. For example, in the State Crit I was away in a break with another guy for over half the race. And during the break I felt like I could have ridden away from him at anytime, and he wasn’t pulling through very much. It was stupid riding on my part because in the last ten minutes I was cramping like crazy and then I got schooled by the guy on the last two laps because he wouldn’t pull through and I got out sprinted at the end. I felt horrible for not winning because the team did such a good job and I could have just told the dude that I didn’t care if we got caught because Kenny would easily win (and he did win the field sprint). And of course after the race Kenny pointed this out and it made sense. So I learned to have confidence in my other teammates. Oh well, next year.
BNW: That’s the great thing about cycling: there’s always next year! The BARR competition came down to the wire this year and seemed to be between you and Ian Tubbs until Ian MacKissick swooped in and stole second place from Tubbs. Was Ian your main rival out there this year? Or were there other racers occupying your attention?
BN: Tubbs was defiantly one of the top guys to watch out for in the BARR competition. The only race I really thought about just beating him though was the State Omnium because I realized then that I had a chance to win the BARR. But going into the season it never once crossed my mind. All the other races though I always thought it was crazy that I was up there with guys like Chad Nikolz, Russell Stevenson, Dave Rickter or Tyler Farrar. Starting out cycling I always watched these guys race and thought they were so fast. And racing against them last year I thought the same, but this year things were different and I really surprised myself. And racing in Canada, I was always concerned with that yellow Symmetrics train, but they didn’t really "occupy" my attention. It was more like “how long can you hold on and keep covering their attacks before they are gone?”
BNW: Those Canadian races are fun for sure. We remember racing up there once, and a break had gone early and Symetrics actually missed it. Well, myself and a teammate were taking pulls, going as hard and long as we could and no one was helping to bring back this break. Then, four Symetrics riders pulled up alongside us, and the rider in the lead looked at me -and I could see my reflection in his glasses- and like a Terminator, he said, "Symmetrics will work with you". We chased for about 40 miles, reeled in the break and then were attacked by three other Symmetrics riders who’d just been sitting in the whole time! They took first, third and fourth places! But we digress. So, Mr. Nelson, while we’re excited to hear that you’ll be out there again next year, I’m sure your rivals are just wishing you’d go to medical school. And again, congratulations on your success and keep the rubber side down.
BN: Will do. One question though: are you going to be out there Mr. Brandenburg?
BNW: That remains to be seen, Mr. Nelson. After all, I’m a bit big boned right now...
